Tool Beta
Hebrew and Greek Without Learning Either
A walk through Genesis, the Psalms, and John, plus the key Hebrew and Greek words worth knowing. Each card is a place the English Bibles part company, and what in the Hebrew or Greek made them.
Psalm 68:18
Thou hast received gifts for men. Ephesians 4:8 quotes it as gave gifts to men, matching the Aramaic Targum's own reading, not the Hebrew or Greek Old Testament.
Psalm 68:18, in every translation this tool compares.
English received and gave describe opposite transactions, one direction of gift-giving versus the other. The Hebrew and the Septuagint's Greek both read received; Paul's letter reads gave. Rather than a simple error, this exact reversal already exists in the Aramaic Targum, a translation tradition Paul may well have known and be deliberately following.
Because the Hebrew says the victor received gifts from conquered men, while Ephesians 4:8 quotes this verse as gave gifts to men, an opposite direction the Aramaic Targum tradition already reads the same way, meaning Paul is very likely following a known interpretive tradition rather than simply misquoting.
Old Testament translations of the Psalm read received gifts, following the Hebrew and Septuagint. Ephesians 4:8 reads gave gifts, matching neither the Hebrew nor the Greek Old Testament but matching the Aramaic Targum's rendering of the same verse.
לָקַחְתָּ מַתָּנוֹת lakachta matanot (received gifts) · H3947 + H4979
The Hebrew and the Septuagint's Greek both read the victor receiving tribute-gifts from conquered peoples after ascending in triumph. The Aramaic Targum on this psalm instead reads gave gifts to the sons of men, and Ephesians 4:8 follows that same direction, either drawing directly on the Targum tradition or on a similar interpretive current, applying the psalm to Christ distributing spiritual gifts to the church after his ascension rather than receiving tribute as a conquering king.
English readers of Ephesians 4:8 encountering a New Testament quotation reversed from their Old Testament translation may assume an error or a loose paraphrase, when in fact an entire, attested Jewish translation tradition, the Targum, already reads the verse the same reversed way Paul does.
A New Testament quotation that appears to reverse or significantly alter its Old Testament source is worth checking against the Aramaic Targum tradition before you call it careless or wrong. Targums frequently interpret rather than merely translate, and New Testament writers sometimes follow that interpretive tradition directly.
Received gifts, following the Hebrew and Septuagint, reads the psalm as describing a conquering king collecting tribute. Gave gifts, following the Targum and Ephesians 4:8, reads the same ascension imagery as a generous king distributing gifts to his people, the reading Paul needs for his argument about spiritual gifts given to the church.
- The Aramaic Targum on Psalm 68:19 reading 'gave gifts to the sons of men'
- Ephesians 4:8's direct quotation matching the Targum's direction, not the Hebrew or LXX
- Septuagint elabes, received, matching the Hebrew
